2023 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Hopkins92]

I know i make this point at least once a year... The total game changer for those that want to jump in is the fact that, despite the Paymark Conference and Paywall U, 90 percent of the games are streamed and many are available On Demand for a few days (or more) after.

That's how I started to really get into it. Going over and popping on the Messiah, CNU, W&L, not to mention other CC games to "scout" the competition. Five years ago, this just wasn't a thing.

[GenerallyInterested]

New rankings out today from United Soccer Coaches.  Not surprised to see Messiah at #1, but Mary Washington only falling to #2 with the loss seems generous.  These rankings seem relatively subjective at times, so nothing to lose sleep over - but interesting.

[SimpleCoach]

New rankings out today from United Soccer Coaches.  Not surprised to see Messiah at #1, but Mary Washington only falling to #2 with the loss seems generous.  These rankings seem relatively subjective at times, so nothing to lose sleep over - but interesting.

Not at all.  They are that good.  Would also say the weather was no ones friend on Saturday.  Although Messiah was the better under the circumstances.

SC.

[PaulNewman]

I see some folks are still getting snookered by the USC poll.  The problem is not too much subjectivity.  It is an entirely mechanical process whereby they take whoever was highest from the week before if they haven't lost region by region...picking one from Reg 1, then one from Reg 2, then Reg 3....and so on...and then rinse and repeat until they get to 25.  There is zero consideration of SoS.  Simply put, there is no consideration.  I don't know else to say it except that it is not a meaningful poll, except of course schools use it when advantageous (as they should and if the school has very little history of being "ranked."

On the other stuff, I'm not craving conflict.  Increased conflict is not what I think is missing. I'm mostly only triggered by a couple of things....wildly arrogant, entitled, and often presumptuous attitudes and grossly gullible and shallow sycophancy.  That said, I am gonna try to recede a bit and see what happens.  I agree with Hopkins that we do have some excellent, newish posters -- SC and Kuiper immediately come to mind but there are others -- but imo it's still very limited.  There are at least two to three handfuls of traditional powerhouses that seem to have zero posters and mostly always have had zero...like Oneonta, Cortland, Rochester, Emory, Stevens, Redlands, CMU, etc.....Heck, is there a single Mary Washington poster?

[Yankeesoccerdad]

On the other stuff, I'm not craving conflict.  Increased conflict is not what I think is missing. I'm mostly only triggered by a couple of things....wildly arrogant, entitled, and often presumptuous attitudes and grossly gullible and shallow sycophancy.  That said, I am gonna try to recede a bit and see what happens.  I agree with Hopkins that we do have some excellent, newish posters -- SC and Kuiper immediately come to mind but there are others -- but imo it's still very limited.  There are at least two to three handfuls of traditional powerhouses that seem to have zero posters and mostly always have had zero...like Oneonta, Cortland, Rochester, Emory, Stevens, Redlands, CMU, etc.....Heck, is there a single Mary Washington poster?

I wish you wouldn't recede--your comments and perspective are always welcome.

There was some good commentary on the NESCAC thread today about fouls and yellows in the Conn/Babson game and it reminded me of how things were a few years ago.

[SimpleCoach]

On a bright note.  I did watch the Carleton - St. Olaf game and here are my notes.

  Carleton - St.Olaf Game Notes.

[Kuiper]

On a bright note.  I did watch the Carleton - St. Olaf game and here are my notes.

  Carleton - St.Olaf Game Notes.

On an even lighter note, was I the only one to look at this score on the NCAA site and laugh at the names, not the numbers?  Which one do you think Tolstoy coaches? 

Warren 1
Peace 7

[PaulNewman]

Nice catch, Kuiper!  You cover a lot material in a very short period of time...it's like you have a personal source in every corner of D3.

And SC, great job.  I watched the last 30 or so minutes.  Congrats to St Olaf for clawing themselves back into the relevance picture.  Actually not deflated (if I am    a Carleton fan) that much by Carleton taking a loss.  They aren't used to that level frequently and I they held their own.  Can't see them getting to the Final Four but they could ruin someone else's chances in the 2nd round or Sweet 16.  Could see St Olaf ending up being a sleeper pick to make Final Four if they keep winning.

[GenerallyInterested]

New rankings out today from United Soccer Coaches.  Not surprised to see Messiah at #1, but Mary Washington only falling to #2 with the loss seems generous.  These rankings seem relatively subjective at times, so nothing to lose sleep over - but interesting.

Not at all.  They are that good.  Would also say the weather was no ones friend on Saturday.  Although Messiah was the better under the circumstances.

SC.

They are good.  But in better weather, Messiah removes any doubt.

[stlawus]

Decent result for Geneseo tonight against Rochester.  I give UR a lot of grief so it may just be my confirmation bias but Geneseo looked a lot better and were in control for most of the game.   UR's spot in the rankings from here on out is poll inertia. 

[PaulNewman]

And the slipper fits...

Congrats to Hopkins on his prescience with this Widener team.  Wow.  Felt like no way Stevens could lose, then felt like worst case would be settling with a draw, and then they do lose on a goal off a corner leaving 12 seconds on the clock.  Kenyon-Trine vibes.

[Soccer BTN]

Decent result for Geneseo tonight against Rochester.  I give UR a lot of grief so it may just be my confirmation bias but Geneseo looked a lot better and were in control for most of the game.   UR's spot in the rankings from here on out is poll inertia.

I'll side with you on this one. UR had a bit more of the play in the first half, but Geneseo came out in the second half hungry to earn a result. I would say that Rochester is a good team with some results to back it up, but there have been a handful of games where they have let their opponent dictate the tempo after the break (Geneseo & RIT). They have shown that they can be fairly dangerous in the final third (20 goals scored, 4/6 PKs), but will need to maintain their level for 90 minutes if they want to make a run like they did in 2018.

It will be interesting to see how they come out against Chicago. Have to think it will be difficult for them to come out with 3 points. Could see Cortland move past them in the regional rankings which would bump Rochester down in the national rankings. The rankings are nice to give talking points, but we can agree that they are relatively meaningless. Just as cash is king in business, in D3 soccer - results & consistency are king.

[Another Mom]

@paulnewman, I hope you don't recede! I very much enjoy your posts.

[Coach Jeff]

And the slipper fits...

Congrats to Hopkins on his prescience with this Widener team.  Wow.  Felt like no way Stevens could lose, then felt like worst case would be settling with a draw, and then they do lose on a goal off a corner leaving 12 seconds on the clock.  Kenyon-Trine vibes.

I have been agreeing with Hopkins as well.  I have had Widener in my top 25 for 2 weeks now...great game with Messiah on October 7

[Hopkins92]

And the slipper fits...

Congrats to Hopkins on his prescience with this Widener team.  Wow.  Felt like no way Stevens could lose, then felt like worst case would be settling with a draw, and then they do lose on a goal off a corner leaving 12 seconds on the clock.  Kenyon-Trine vibes.

So full disclosure, Widener was routinely on Hopkins' schedule back in the day, and they were pretty routinely seen as a fairly easy win. And while they've popped in with the occasional head slightly above .500 record, they have been just as likely to post a 3 win season over the last decade. So, there was a slightly tongue in cheek nature to the whole thing last year.

But, when Sean Fatiga started pouring in goals, I started chiming in on the Mid-Atlantic thread around this time. And then a quick scan of the roster and the bulk of the team was coming back this year. So... Not rocket science but definitely a slightly random team to jump on.

Kind of like you with Kenyon, nice to have other teams to birddog when your team is having a sketchy start to the season.

And for those not hopping on regional threads, Widener is 8-0 to Messiah's 7-0-1. I haven't checked Massey but I'm sure they are still pretty far apart given SOS. But for now, they are technically in first place in the MAC-C. (I guess?)